NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has awarded four Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grants totaling $1,309,365.91 to Louisiana coastal communities for projects that prevent coastal erosion, develop conservation education opportunities and improve coastal transportation infrastructure. 

Created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, CIAP provides funding to the six Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas producing states to conserve and protect the coastal environment. CIAP is an ongoing program with grant funding that is allocated based on the offshore energy revenues collected by the United States. 

“CIAP is a valuable program that continues to provide assistance to states and coastal communities,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. “These four projects will help coastal Louisiana communities improve and protect these important ecosystems and assist with the construction of critical coastal transportation infrastructure.” 

The four grants are: 

• $469,416.41 to reconstruct or rehabilitate four roadways in the Intracoastal City area of Vermillion Parish. Facilities located along these roadways provide a substantial amount of commerce for the local coastal community and support OCS activities.
• $441,999.50 to construct and widen Charlie Field Road near Erath in Vermillion Parish, an important link that connects Louisiana State highways 14 and 331. This connection will provide an alternate route to Henry Hub, a natural gas transmission infrastructure facility critical to offshore energy production.
• $47,950 for the design and planning of an open air educational outreach pavilion and nature trail in Henderson, La. along the eastern shoreline of Bayou Amy in central St. Martin Parish, La. The Bayou Amy Trail and Education Pavilion will teach visitors about conservation in the area and showcase natural features along the trail and in area waterways. 
• $350,000 for Phase I of a multi-phase project that will prevent continued erosion and repair breaching along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway caused by Hurricane Rita’s storm surge.  It will include the engineering, design and identification of land rights in the marsh areas surrounding Horseshoe Lake in southern Calcasieu Parish, approximately three miles northwest of Hackberry, La.